The effects of China's new COVID prevention policy are prompt and remarkable, especially for international travelers. Data shows searches and bookings for flights into China rocketed hours after the announcement issued by the Chinese government on Friday, according to Ctrip.com, a Chinese online travel giant.

The number of reservations for trips to China on Ctrip's website doubled compared with the same hour the previous day, as the search for international flights increased by 200%.

Data from another Chinese online travel agency, Tongcheng-eLong, shows a 448% increase in one hour after the new policy announcement on Friday regarding the search numbers of international flights, compared with the exact hour Thursday. The agency also gave some of the most popular inbound routes, including Phnom Penh-Nanning, Seoul-Shenyang, Seoul-Qingdao, Phnom Penh-Guangzhou, Seoul-Dalian, Bangkok-Kunming, Vietnam-Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur-Guangzhou.

The new policy is welcomed industry-wide

Since the outbreak, China has been implementing a strict national "dynamic zero-COVID" policy, aiming to manage the balance between the stability of its economy and treating every COVID-positive case once discovered. With concerns about surging case numbers if COVID spreads, local officials choose to implement strict prevention measures, which sometimes result in massive lockdowns in major cities, massive cancelations for airliners, and even more extreme situations.

The latest relaxation of prevention policy shows the Chinese government's intention to recover its economy, as Ctrip said in its statement,

"The further easing reflects a balance between COVID control and economic development, and prepares for more opening up of the travel market."

Zhang Zhining, a tourism analyst with Trip.com, further added,

"It's a positive sign for the warmup of the autumn and winter tourism market, and even next year's tourism market."

The new policy is also welcomed by the airliner, as Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Shanghai Spring Tour, said,

"It saves the cost of aviation companies and time for passengers, and it will also increase the motivation to travel for tourists."

Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests.

New Chinese national COVID prevention policy

The new COVID policy was approved in the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee (CPC's top decision-making body) on November 10th and was published the following day.

The new policy enables international travelers to China now only need to face five days in a centralized quarantine location, followed by three days of home quarantine (the 5+3 days of quarantine time) instead of the seven days in a centralized quarantine location and three days of home quarantine.

Meanwhile, the controversial "circuit breaker" policy for international flights was suspended, and travelers will only be required to have one negative nucleic acid test result done within 48 hours of boarding. The previous requirement was two tests.

Also, there will be no medium-risk areas, only high and low-risk areas, and the number of people to be put under lockdown will be largely reduced. If no cases are found in a high-risk area for five consecutive days, the area will be considered low-risk.